The dictionary defines heritage as "a legacy; evidence of the past, historical sites or
unspoiled natural environment, considered as the inheritance of present-day society."
A Legacy
UNESCO World Heritage broadens that definition by adding "what we will pass on to
future generations."  Toward that aim,  UNESCO's doing its part by helping to identify,
protect and preserve cultural and natural heritage sites around the world.
The World Heritage list includes 981 sites.  In June, 2013, 19 new sites were
added.  The photos on this page are from some of UNESCO's newly added sites.
The photo at the top of the page and the photos above & below were taken
in the area surrounding three of the medieval Hill Forts of Rajasthan, India.
The Medici Gardens, Tuscany, Italy
Above and below, Bergpark Wilhelmshohe, Kassel, Germany.
Above and below, medieval wooden churches
of the Carpathian Region, Poland and Ukraine.
Life should be lived forward, but it can only be
understood backward.
-- Soren Kierkegaard
Please don't use the "Send page" feature of your computer to
send this entire page in an e-mail message, document or pdf
format.  If you'd like to share it, please just send the link.
The link to this page is:
http://www.thepastwhispers.com/Legacy.html
In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck describes a group of Oklahoma farm wives
loading their goods into an old truck for the long trip to California in the 1930's.
They didn't have many possessions, but there wasn't room for what they had:
Above and below, Tajik National Park, Tajikistan.
The women sat among the doomed things, turning them over and looking
past them and back.  "This book.  My father had it.  He liked a book.  Pilgrim's
Progress.  Used to read it.  Got his name in it.  And his pipe - still smells rank.
Think we could get this china dog in?  Aunt Sadie brought it from the St. Louis fair.
Here's a letter my brother wrote the day before he died.  Here's an old-time hat -
never got to use the feathers.  Guess there isn't room.
How will we know it's us without our past?"
Above and below, Mt. Etna, Sicily, Italy (below shows
lava flowing during the 2011 eruption).
Pinacate and Gran Disierto Biosphere Reserve, Mexico
Agadez, Niger, historic gateway to Sahara Desert.
Being alive is a common road, it's what we notice that makes us different.
-- Naomi Nye
Namib Sand Sea, Namibia
Historic Port Town of Levuka, Fiji
Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, China
In the end, we will probably not be judged by the monuments
we build, but by those we have destroyed.
-- Kenneth Westbrook
Red Bay Basque Whaling Station, Canada
We will conserve only what we love.  We will love only what we understand.
We will understand only what we are taught.  
-- B. Dioum